A wide variety of vehicles including automobiles, trucks, sport utility vehicles and recreational vehicles, are equipped with a trailer hitch arrangement. The trailer hitch is conventionally attached to or near (usually below) the vehicle's rear bumper. The conventional trailer hitch arrangement includes a trailer ball attached to a ball mount that is either fixed directly to a rear support structure on a vehicle or is attached to a ball mount draw bar that is inserted into a receiver. The receiver is attached to the rear support structure.
The hitch coupler of the trailer includes a ball socket that is fitted over the ball of the ball mount. The latter arrangement is a more sophisticated arrangements that is designed generally for pulling larger loads. The drawbar can be inserted or removed from the receiver as desired. A hitch pin is inserted to hold the drawbar to the hitch receiver. A spring cotter pin holds the hitch pin in its position.
These conventional hitch arrangements for towing have generally met the needs of vehicle operators over the years. However, changes in technology, particularly with respect to the advent of the autonomous vehicle, require that known hitch arrangements be reconsidered as they are not adapted to autonomous vehicle operation. For example, the vertical receiver ball height as measured from the ground is misaligned with the hitch coupler during autonomous vehicle maneuvering. In addition, today's fixed ball mount cannot adjust vertically to locate under the trailer's hitch coupler
Known trailer attaching technology thus is not suitable for use with the autonomous vehicle. There is a need for an adjustable articulating rear trailer hitch that is capable of autonomously aligning the ball mount with the trailer hitch coupler.
Accordingly, known approaches to coupling a trailer to a tow vehicle cannot provide satisfactory results when the tow vehicle is an autonomous vehicle. As in so many areas of vehicle technology, there is always room for improvement related to trailer hitch systems for a vehicle.